Jimmy Carter goes about doing good

Press, 13 December 1989, Page 14

Jimmy Carter goes about doing good

NZPA-Reuter Washington Jimmy Carter’s popularity is rising. Nine years after Ronald Reagan smothered his hopes for a second four years in the White House, the former President’s fame is growing because of his good works.

“He goes everywhere, doing good,” a syndicated columnist, Mary McGrory, wrote, referring to Mr Carter’s various projects — building homes for the poor, promoting health and nutrition in developing countries and trying to end regional conflicts. “Despite all his troubles in the White House Jimmy Carter may be the best former President America has ever had,” said an equally flattering recent “Time” magazine article.

Mr Carter, now aged 65 and a grandfather of six, recently enjoyed his new reputation during a twoday visit to Washington with his wife Rosalynn for a reunion with former members of his administration.

All but forgotten were the staggering problems that beset him throughout his four years in the Oval Office and cost him reelection in 1980 — long petrol queues, a sour economy and the takeover of the United States

Embassy in Iran by militants who held 52 Americans hostage for more than 14 months.

The reunion planners apparently forgot that the dates chosen for the gettogether coincided with the tenth anniversary of the hostage crisis. But the coincidence failed to dampen the mood of celebration that marked the gathering. Relaxed and constantly flashing his famed toothy grin, the greying former President said again and again: “There is life after the White House!”

During the visit, Mr Carter raised more than SUS7OO,OOO for his presidential library in Atlanta, which houses the records of his turbulent years as the U.S. leader and serves as an international conference centre and public policy think-tank. “I guess we spend half of our time begging for money,” he said, explaining that his good-will diplomacy is completely financed by private and corporate contributions.

Mr Carter said his present efforts included encouraging peace talks between Ethiopia and its Eritrean rebels, and serving as chairman of an international team of observers monitoring the upcoming Nicaraguan

election. As a volunteer carpenter for Habitat for Humanity, an organisation that builds low-cost housing, he will also help build 110 homes for the homeless in San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico, early next year, he said. Much of the acclaim for Mr Carter has come at the expense of former President Reagan, who has been criticised for his lavish lifestyle and recent SUS2 million speaking trip to Japan. “The contrast between the after-office lives of the former Presidents reinforces a heretical notion I have — namely, that history will soon reverse the popular images of the two men and give Mr Carter higher grades as President than Mr Reagan,” said Terence Smith in an opinion column in the “New York Times.”

Smith, a CBS News reporter, covered the White House during the Carter and Reagan presidencies.

Like many other analysts, he credited Mr Carter with tackling tough problems like the ArabIsraeli conflict and faulted Reagan for ignoring such serious concerns as the Federal deficit and financial scandals.